AutoGrid Systems Introduces Smart Grid Solution: Energy Data Platform

More and more companies are chipping into the smart grid revolution, with the latest being U.S.-based AutoGrid Systems, and its introduction of a new software platform aimed at streamlining power utility operations.

The Energy Data Platform (EDP) is a scalable and secure software platform that comes in handy when digging up data from smart meters and other networking assets connected to a smart grid. In a bid to support the venture, AutoGrid has collected $9 million in venture capital.

It took the collective efforts of Foundation Capital, Voyager Capital and Stanford University to come up with the sum.

Steve Vassallo, the Foundation Capital partner, highlighted the fact that AutoGrid aims at turning data into practical intelligence for both customers and utilities. He said, “As an initial application, the technology will dramatically help expand how demand response programs are used by utilities and retail electricity providers in the nation and around the world.”

Apart from this, AutoGrid has also launched a brand new Software-as-a-Service (SaaS (News - Alert)) platform, Demand Response Optimization and Management System (DROMS). The system is to help cut down on the cost of implementing demand response while bettering on a program’s turnover. To crown its diverse operations, the company signed $5 million worth of contracts with the U.S. department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy and the California Energy Commission (News - Alert).

AutoGrid is a flexible physics-based build that mirrors the complicated interrelationships between the generation, transmission, distribution and consumption of power within an area of interest. The EDP employs petabytes of both structured and unstructured data to predict future grid-user behaviors, hence improving on the service quality delivery.

The preciseness of the EDP allows utility companies to dig up use patterns displayed by its customer base to trim peak loads and device plans for even distribution to customers without delay or wastage.

One fact, however, remains independent of individuals, names or corporations. Come rain or shine, smart grid connections are a thing of the future that any developed country must integrate into its utility infrastructure if they are to monitor and manage power consumption, delivery and cost.